


Live for the Night

by Wild_Card_Writing



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Astrals get the finger, BAMF Prompto, Dawn Mother decides enough is enough, Gen, I did not play the game it shows, I hate the ending so fate can just take a hike, I mean Prompto Argentum, I'm not sorry, Lunafreya is very confused, Poor Prompto, Prompto is so tired of losing things, Prompto with future amigar magic, Prompto's parents are the worst parents because they are absent jerks, The Empire is not ready for QuickSilver, basically everyone in some form but focused on Prompto, because I can't find it, guns aren't legal in Insomnia so Prompto gets creative, is there a proper map for Insomnia, not a lot of people wear black in ff15 brotherhood, so many throwback to final fantasy 7 because I can, some world building because I need the background to make sense, too many tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-13 12:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wild_Card_Writing/pseuds/Wild_Card_Writing
Summary: When Prompto wakes up in the past,  he sets out to change everything.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [《TimeTraveler》【FF15】noctis x prompto-FINAL FANTASY XV-](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/314943) by TOU TLZIYOU_. 



Prologue:

When he watches his friend return after ten years the meeting is bittersweet.

Ignis is stationed nearly ten miles away in one of the smaller havens that popped up to ensure the food supply stays open and he isn’t likely to be anywhere near Nifilhem anytime soon.

Gladios has long become a vagabond, hunting everywhere with his sister and Prompto hasn’t seen him in years.

So neither are with him when he drags the lithe figure of his best friend away from the crystal and starts trying to help his friend get used to having a body. 

Noctis is understandably confused and upset and every emotion in-between but Prompto does his best even as he attempts to get in contact with Ignis and Gladios. 

They’re living in one of the smaller MT factories that Prompto helped clean out with Aranea years ago but even with the without the threat of MT’s there’s still plenty to do. The factory is in terrible shape from both the elements and the daily visits from the local wildlife that Prompto is constantly having to repair walls and kill new nests of monsters that take up residence. He also has to cook them food and fetch water and beef up security and just a million things that every day that when Prompto finally heads to bed he’s so exhausted to do much else but ensure Noctis is eating himself.

Noctis though seems to be caught in between reality and wherever he was when he was in the crystal that Prompto often finds him in the exact spot he’s left him when he left hours ago to handle whatever new problem came up during the night. He’ll mutter to himself randomly and talk about strange things, sometimes to him and sometimes to people who are long dead that Prompto will sometimes wonder if he really got back his friend because Noctis doesn’t really seem to be present.

Usually, though Prompto will focus on other things with he gets stuck on thoughts like that and work on some of the machines for a while to clear his head. His knack for machines leading him to further transform the factory he and Noctis are living into something more comfortable. He hasn’t completely fixed all of the factories' infrastructure in the ten years he’s been waiting, half because there just aren’t enough materials to completely repair the base, and the other half because he just doesn’t know enough to fix anything more. He’s fixed what he could and secured the two lowest floors into a warm safe haven for the two of them, but everywhere else is a crumbling mess because of harsh weather and the monsters.

He has drones, cameras, and traps, up and running so even when he does a food or water run he can keep a close eye on both Noctis and the factory while he's away, but the journey is always hard on him. The sun only rises for a few hours every day so he has to leave the factory if they want to have food and water, and just supplies in general, but Prompto does his best to be quick ensuring that he’s only gone a few hours so he can spend the rest of his time watching over Noctis.

Still, even that time is being productive as he can, going through one of the few computer consuls still working, and digging through it to find a cure to the scourge. Even through Besithia was more interested in creating magitek soldiers there was a period of time he attempted to find a cure. He hasn’t found out much more about it than the first time he was in the factory but he’s discovered a lot of other information that will prove useful once he and Noctis return to civilization–

“…Promp…to?”

Prompto nearly falls over from trying to get to Noct. He was sitting in front of the computer on the far side of the room when he hears his name and immediately rushes over. He kneels by Noct’s bed and taking his friend’s hand tries to ground him in the here and now.

“I’m here. “

Noctis smiles his eyes meeting his for the first time. Clear and grounded.

”Mind if I ask a favor?”

Prompto nods.

His friend could ask for anything and he'd agree. Even impossible things and he'd try because it just been too damn long since Noctis has been around. Those ten years away still weighted on him now, especially because even though Noctis was back, he wasn' really back in all the ways that mattered.

"Will you go back?"

XXxxxxXX


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompto wakes up and nearly has a panic attack. Plans and assumptions.

**Things to keep in mind:** I’ve seen only ff15 brotherhood, Episode Prompto and parts of the ff15 game so some of what I’ve written will obviously be off. Additionally, I will be throwing various parts of cannon in the trash.

**Chapter One**

XXxxxXX

_“Will you go back?”_

XXxxxXXX

Prompto wakes on a bed in a quiet, dark blue room and has a panic attack. He knows this room even years later because he still had, _has_ pictures of it on his camera. He knows very well where he is even if the thought of it actually makes his stomach do flips because this can’t possibly be real.

Jumping off the bed, he lands neatly on the floor and reaches for a weapon, for his guns for anything, and his fingers clutch around the metal of cold steel while he makes his way to the door. Even if this wasn’t some illusion, the fact that he can see the moon through the window to left—a fact that nearly sent him to a panic attack, (no hunter worth his salt went to sleep without a watch, it was suicide) he makes his way through the house quietly, carefully.

Until he can make some sense of where he actually is, he refuses to let himself freak out.

This could be another trick of Ardyn’s or it could something else. _But he will not freak out until he knows._

He makes it down the stairs, ears listening for anything out of the ordinary, listening for daemons, listening for scavengers, anything. The silence is as deafening as always, and he’s tempted to retreat back to the room and barricade himself in to wait out the darkest parts of the night, but he pushes forward because he needs to know.

_Where is he?_

He gets to the ground floor landing and scans the room, one gun in his right and another in his left watching for motion. He very quietly slides to the floor taking the time to ensure there really isn’t anything under any of the furniture before finally making his way to the windows.

He needs to know how strong his defenses are before he’s able to do anything to build up his new base, or even if he needs to move to another shelter. Moving from the floor to one of the walls near the windows he looks out and nearly has a heart attack.

There are streetlights and _**people.**_

**_Out at dark._ **

“Impossible. This can’t be…!”

He banishes one gun back to the armiger, and in two motions jumps on top of the roof, the beginnings of doubt already settling in his mind. Ardyn was a sneaking bastard, and a magic user of the Caelum line but he had limits, including how far his illusions could go.

As he looks around him, it finally hits him what’s he’s seeing because nothing he knows has the power to do what is currently in front of him.

Insomnia whole and alive.

His knees hit the roof of the house, _his_ house now that he finally lets his brain make the connection he had ignored earlier, as tears trail down his face. His vision is blurry from the tears but as he watches the city he loves he can’t help but think he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

There are people and dogs, and everything that makes a city alive and it’s dirty and chaotic but it’s a thousand times better to the existence that humanity was clinging onto after the sun went out. The people in front of him are living, actually living instead of just surviving. There no fear of daemons raining down on them at any second, no worries about the next meal. Nothing. The thought is almost unbelievable to him.

He shifts and sits on his roof and just takes everything around him in.

He can’t believe he forgot what his hometown was like, what Insomnia was like, but he has. Reaching out once again to the armiger he retrieves an old forgotten friend.

His camera sits perfectly in his hands and holding it up he takes a picture for the first time in forever. Half so he can remember forever and half so he can’t ever take it for granted again.

This is a picture of a city alive.

And he’s going to keep it that way.

XXxxxxXX

He wakes up to the sun on his face a few hours later, beady-eyed and drowsy.

Apparently, he had fallen asleep on the roof, somehow without falling off. Rubbing his eyes, he makes the trip back into the house through the open window and starts immediately searching for information. Anything that might tell him the time and date.

If he's was really in the past, he needs all the information he could get. Was he still in school? Was it summer? Was he already in Crownsguard training? He didn’t know, but he needed to find out.

Spotting some bills on the table he scanned for the date.

May M.E. 751

He shifts through the other papers eyes wide. But he gets the same result for all the bills. It’s May of the year seven hundred and fifty-one the year he and Noctis meet in high school and become friends and more than ten years into the past.

The thought is mind-boggling. He knew he was in the past, but to be sixteen years in the past was something he hadn’t quite expected, at most he’d thought he'd have a few years before everything went to shit, but this is incredible.

And world changing.

If he can get it right.

Heading back upstairs to his room he finds his old cell phone, an old flip thing that’s charged and has notifications on it. He flips it open and looks through the list pausing at the date momentarily before moving on. Beyond noticing that it’s summer and the fact that it’s Wednesday neither really has any importance to him.

In the old timeline, he’d be focusing on his exercise routine right now but in his current condition that’s no longer necessary…but at the very least he needs to blend in a little. The last thing he needs is to get the attention of anyone important before he’s even accomplished anything, and a scruffy man going around looking for information on an enemy nation will definitely get attention.

Especially one that looks like a Nif.

At the bare minimum, he needs to shave his goatee off and color his hair. Blond is just too noticeable. Heading to the hallway restroom, he gets another surprise when he looks in the mirror and sees himself. Instead of the rough and tumble thirty-year-old man he knows, he looks young…like he’s fifteen again. His reflection in the mirror a painful jolt to everything else that he's discovered since waking up in the past. The last time he looked like this, Noctis was....

He stops that thought in its tracks and pushes past it. He can break down later, but for now, he has things to do. He step-sides the question of why he looks like a fifteen-year-old again to the back of his mind. He wasn’t going to try and figure out the ins and outs of time travel, and he probably will never figure it out anyway so he just accepts it and moves on.

At the very least Noctis will be getting his friend back, Prompto thinks a bit happier. He had been a little afraid that even if he saved the world his friend would grow up even more closed off and introverted than he was in the original timeline.

It’s a small thing but frankly, Prompto is so tired of losing friends that he will do anything to keep the people he cares about safe and happy this time around. Even if it means he can be there in some small way for his friend as he grows into a King and lives his life.

He takes a nice long and more importantly warm shower, something that just wasn’t the same when he lived in the Haven in the old Magitek Factory, especially since he constantly had to be quick in case something came up, such another machine failure or monster attack. He tosses his clothes into the hamper and walks into his room in a towel as he digs through his clothes looking for a set of nondescript clothes that will help him blend in while he makes a trip into town.

He ends up having to give up on the idea through when after digging through all the clothes he has in both his dresser and his closet when the only clothes he comes across are bright and colorful. No one wore bright colorful clothes in the future because bright colorful clothes meant daemons could see you more easily in the darkness of the night.

Resigning himself to getting something more appropriate for his excursion into the outer parts of Lucis he grabs a faded white t-shirt with a picture of a gold triangle and a pair of forest green cargo shorts. Changing into them he takes a seat on his bed and starts going through the money he has. He ignores the old wallet on the bedside table knowing full well that it didn’t have gil but the credit cards that his parents would regularly put money into for both his necessaries and the bills and all of it in Crowns. He supposes he could change them into gil at an exchange, but he immediately discards the idea after some thought. The Crown to gil conversion was never very good if he remembered correctly.

Instead, he calls forth the gil from the armiger not expecting much (if anything) and he was right. Even with his status as a high-profile hunter, money was always hard to come by. Most of the time he’d be given some extra bandages or food for a mission he’d complete. Rarely money, because once the sun vanished other things became more valuable such, as food and potions. Still, as Prompto counted through the money again, he felt himself getting frustrated. He only had a few hundred gil. Nowhere even close to the amount he’d need if he wanted to traverse across Lucis in any sort of reasonable time.

He supposes he can hitch a ride once he got to one of the Havens or maybe even with one of the other hunters, but the thought of that is not exactly pleasing. He might not find anyone willing to help him, and if the outer parts of Lucis are anything like he remembers, he doubts getting a ride will be as simple as hopes. His best bet will be to get a car or a motorcycle once he's got enough money and make the journey himself.

Still, even if the idea is a good one, it comes back to his main problem. He doesn't have enough money.

He needs potions, gear, and equipment, and a million other things that he doesn't have enough money for let alone to buy a car or a motorcycle.

Both of which probably cost a lot if the repairs on the Regala were anything to go by.

But, it wouldn’t be impossible if he planned this correctly. 

Grabbing his wallet off the disk near him again, he dug through it looking for his bus pass. If it was still good he'd have a way to the edge of the city. Sure, he'd have to sneak past the guards at the border but if he looped around the old wall and maybe took a quick trip through the sewers...he might just make it out of Insomnia.

"Aha!" He said finding his bus pass. The lettering on it pronounced it good for the year. Banishing it to the armiger, he grabs a pen and paper and starts charting out his course.

Even with the bus pass helping him to the walls of Insomnia there was still plenty of walking ahead of him. The public transportation system in Insomnia was far from good, and in certain parts of the city was completely absent. Poor areas had less and areas closest to the wall were the worst, so even if Prompto used the bus as his main method of transport out of the city he was probably going to have to walk the last couple of miles out of the city on foot.

(And probably through the sewers if he wanted to avoid the Kingsglavie.)

Looking over the lone bus map above his desk he starts trying to find a route to get him to the wall. He finds a few routes that might actually pan out but what actually catches his attention on the old map is the three bus routes leading out the city for tourists. While he might not be able to be able to take the tourist buses directly out of the city to the settlement there were, in fact, a number of bus stops for passengers to get on and off. If he managed to get out of the city, he could catch a ride on the bus for at least part of the way before walking the rest of the way on foot.

His mind set, he goes back to his closet and starts packing ensuring that he has enough clothes in the armiger before his goes to his bed and strips it of its extra blankets and pillows. He goes back to the restroom and grabbing his toiletries starts going through the medicine cabinet looking for any potions or medicines that might be useful. He finds two potions, some painkillers and to his delight, one elixir. Tossing everything into the Armiger and digging through both the fridge and the cabinets for food, he throws out the leftovers and packs the few perishables into his messenger bag while he puts all of the canned food into the armiger. It might not be anywhere close to the food Iggy used to make but it would do for now until he started earning some real money.

Slinging his bag over his shoulders he makes the rounds around the house making sure all the windows and doors were locked. He had no idea when he would be back, and beyond knowing he has to come back to school Prompto feels bittersweet leaving the city he had only gotten to see alive again.

But he comforts himself with the fact that this time, he would be back to see the lights again.

Locking the front door Prompto leaves, sparing only one backward glance to his childhood home.

**XXxxxxXX**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep this in mind. 
> 
> Prompto has some gil because it was the money left over after the trip was done and over, and Ignis and Gladio went their separate ways. It was never much and in light of commodities like food and water and shelter becoming scarcer money became worthless, and it was left in armiger. Same for the old tent that prompto pulls out later on. Prompto has the armiger of the future so anything they got in the future he can access.
> 
>  
> 
> Next time, Prompto the hunter! Prompto starts getting started on getting rid of the Empire and surprises. Someone does notice Prompto’s absence!


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompto's on the hunt. (Or the segment of the story where a small, slightly petit boy walks into a diner and becomes something of an urban legend.) Included some input from a goddess, and some game mechanics (because I have finally played a little! yay!)

**Things to keep in mind:**  I’ve seen only ff15 brotherhood, Episode Prompto and parts of the ff15 game so some of what I’ve written will obviously be off. Additionally, I will be throwing various parts of cannon in the trash.

**Chapter Two**

XXxxxXX

It took several buses and three hours before he was out of Insomnia, and entering Liede. The area didn’t look any different from his memories, still dusty and covered in sand, and although there was a car here and there on the road, Prompto spent most of the time walking along the street. He didn’t bother to hitchhike, firstly because he knew how well that turned out. People in the borderlands were a cautious bunch and strange foreigners in the area meant trouble especially ones that looked like Niffs. So Prompto intended to walk the few miles to his destination even if it meant wasting some time. But walking through Leide was important for another reason.

He could get an idea of the Imperial forces in the area.

So far he’d seen four airdrop ships and a number of suspicious vehicles on the road, and while that was considerably less than the amount that had consistently attacked the group in the future-that-wasn’t it was still a high number. It was little wonder why Insomnia had fallen the last time around if even in the past the Empire was this close to the walls.

Walking into Taka’s Diner Prompto walks up to the counter and waited for his turn in line. He knows he’s probably going to have to work his way up the hunter ranks if he wants to earn enough money to complete his mission, but he still hasn’t made up his mind about how much time he can devote to hunting. Ideally, he wants at least enough money for his travel and a couple dozen potions but he might have to do without depending on how long it takes. 

The person in front of him moves away and Prompto finds himself before Taka.

“What can I do for you?” He asks, accent nearly dropping vowels. He’s drying off some cutlery, presumably after he’d finished dishes

“I want to pick up a local hunt,” Prompto tells him, hand in his pockets. He knows he probably doesn’t look threatening enough, or even experienced enough like he did the first time around but at least he was in a group. This time around it might be a bit harder because he looks like a sheltered high school kid.

Taka raises an eyebrow, a frown on his face, looking at him pensively.

Already Prompto can tell this is going to be annoying.

“And how do I know that you aren’t just going to go out there and die, kid?” Taka retorts looking at him now, frowning deeply. He’s not drying cutlery anymore, his arms are crossed and he’s looking down at Prompto a hairs width between annoyed and frustrated himself like  _Prompto’s being the unreasonable one._

It’s a feeling that Prompto has seen many times, particularly on Ignis, but it’s ten times more annoying when he knows he’s right.

He’s tempted to reveal his armiger, to prove that he’s experienced in fighting enough to get access to the armiger of Lucis but he knows revealing magic like that in a crowded place like the Hammerhead Diner is just asking to get himself on the shit list of both Imperials and the locals and is decidedly stupid so he settles to prove Taka wrong in another way.

Taking out his camera from the folds of his jacket he flips through the film before turning the camera to Taka. He’d picked photos of himself and a monster in the same frame with as little of the rest of the gang as possible. He waits while Taka connects the dots before he speaks.

“I’m picking up hunts ‘cause I need the money not because I want to go off on a suicidal quest or I think I’m hot stuff.” He says watching as Taka raises an eyebrow at the photos but his whole expression changes as he realizes that he’s not talking to a runaway or a glory hunter looking to get some fame.

“Fine, if you think you can handle it.” He says sliding a slip of paper towards Prompto. “Bring me seven Saberclaws and you’ve got yourself some gil.”

Prompto thanks him and takes the paper before walking out. If he remembers correctly there are some Debased Coins in the area behind the diner he might be able to find and maybe use get some quick cash.

Stuffing the wanted poster into his pocket he makes his way outside to the back of the Diner. Sure enough, there are the Debased Coins he remembered finding years ago. He doesn’t find as many as he remembers from the future but the two he finds is enough to get him a decent meal at the diner and an additional potion before he sets out on his hunt.

He eats by the only radio in the diner listening to news from Crown City taking note of the things that sound a little off. Like the fact that there’s been another protest by Outsiders or the fact that the Kingsglavie is asking for more recruits before he leaves the diner.

The fact that the Kingsglavie was asking for recruits was never a good thing.

XXxxxxXX

The desert around Hammerhead is still as annoying as he remembers but he manages to get the Saberclaws in two hours and stock up enough magic in his magic flasks that the trip wasn’t a total waste but it was still exasperating in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

As a long ranged fighter without a tank to distract the monster’s attention, he had to work twice as hard to get the job done because he kept getting ambushed.

Not just by Sabertusks but also Reapertails and it was annoying how much it happened. One minute he’d be gathering some fire magic by the Haven north of Hammerhead and the next he’d be fighting five Reapertails…and then four Sabertusks and then two Dualhorns. It was ridiculous.

Still, he counted himself lucky with how quick he was able to manage the mission and returned to Taka’s Diner, tired but pleased with how fast the hunt was over. Thankfully he also managed to pick up some valuable vendor items to sell while he was out looking for Saberclaws that he could sell.

He made a small detour to the shop where he sold off the vendor junk, making sure to count the money he received in exchange. He refused to let himself be shortchanged because he was lazy. Counting the money up and adding it to the amount left in the armiger he had three thousand gil. Not a large amount by any means but it was a decent start. Trekking back to the Diner he returned the wanted poster and the Saberclaws he had picked up from his kills.

Taka raised an eyebrow at him but stamped the sheet anyway handing Prompto both his money and a hi-elixir. 

“Up for another hunt, kid?” He asked shifting through some papers on the breakfast bar.

Prompto smiles thinly. “Always.” A hint of something more behind his smile but Prompto does what he’s done all his life and pushes the memories down, and away from him. He tries not to think of another time and place where he’s been asked the same question but it’s hard because even though he doesn’t know Taka well enough for it to mean anything, the question still brings up memories.

Taka nods and slides another sheet of paper to Prompto. “I need this done as soon as possible and…”He trails off staring straight into Prompto’s eyes. “I’ve got something else for you if you feel up to the task…”

Prompto blinks. “Whatcha’ got?” He says glancing at the wanted poster ever so briefly. Kill five Mesmenir, nothing much. He more interested in what Taka wants for him to do.

“I need some ingredients for the Diner.” He starts. “Getting food out here is a pain and delivery isn’t always good so I need a hunter to find me some fruits. Tomatoes. As many as you can find. Bring me some and I’ll give you some meals free.”

Prompto’s eyes light up at the last part.

Without Ignis to cook excellent meals Prompto thought he was going to have to live off of cup noodles until he got back to Lucis, but maybe he didn’t have to. Besides, even if he only got one meal on the house it was still a meal he didn’t have to pay for.

“Got it. I’ll be back.”

XXxxxxXX

He doesn’t immediately find many tomatoes, but all the fighting he does is enough to bring in vendor items that almost makes up for the fact that he still hasn’t completed either of his new missions.

He’s killed three Mesmenir but the last two are proving to be more elusive than he thought and it was taking longer than he anticipated. Already the sun is starting to dip and he’s too far away to actually make it back to Hammerhead in time before darkness hits that he resigns himself to camping for the night.

Digging into the armiger for the world map he scans for a campsite. While he knows there are a number of campsites in the area, he needs the map if he wanted the exact locations. Getting his bearings took only a few minutes before he was setting off. Cotisse Haven is less than a mile away that he could make camp at if he hurried.

The desert was starting to pick up and the sand was getting everywhere even though there was still an hour before dark. He hadn’t seen any more monsters after the last set of Reapertails but the sounds he was starting to hear were starting to make his fingers twitchy. After living through the ten years of darkness the sound of demons had left its mark on him.

Spotting the haven, he spares a minute to collect some more of the magic surrounding the flat stone. If he gets it before nightfall, he’ll be able to mine them again tomorrow when the element stores replenish and save him a trip later.

He moves back to the haven and starts setting up the camp for the night. He sets up the old worn green tent that was used on the original Road Trip in practiced motions that he knew would make Gladio proud. The tent has a few holes and there are several places where it’s brunt black either through a monster attack or a spell misfired but it’s familiar and reassuring in a way that Hammerhead wasn’t.

But even as he thinks that there’s still an emptiness that takes root when he suddenly realizes that the tent that was once too small for four grown men is far too large for one. He takes out his phone and turns on the music so he can have some noise, instead of the silence but it’s a poor substitute for people. He snacks on his rather meager dinner of baby carrots and peanut butter feeling sad and happy all at once because there is just so much he misses and sees everywhere he looks.

But there’s hope. Because he’s here and that’s enough for now. Because his friends are alive. The thought of which is comforting.

As he gets into his sleeping bag he turns off his phone and hoping for good dreams drifts off to sleep.

XXxxxxxXX

_Dearest child…._

_…You have my blessing…_

_Fly to your dreams…child of the sun…_

As Prompto shifts in his sleep, a warm white light crystallizes above him, changing and transforming itself into a clear stone on a necklace that strings itself around his neck gently. He doesn't notice in his sleep and won't notice for a few more hours, but in the light of his little lantern, green magic swirls within it, humming patiently.

Waiting to be realized.

XXxxxxxXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was too long and so I cut it in half so I could have another chapter sooner. The next chapter will include an outside POV. Until next time!


End file.
